Shadows Linger (35 page)

“Silent?”

He nodded, but hedged. He wanted to stick to the track to make sure. We mounted
up, let him do what walking remained to be done. I, for one, had had enough
tramping around.

“How about we stay over?” One-Eye asked.

I checked the sun. “I'm considering it. How safe you figure we'd be?”

He shrugged. “There's smoke coming up down there. Don't look like they had any
trouble yet.”

Mind-reader. I had been examining farmsteads as we passed, seeking indications
that the lump creatures were raiding the neighborhood. The farms had seemed
peaceful and active.

I suppose the creatures confined their preda-tions to the city, where they would
cause less excitement. Raven's track hit the Shaker Road a half-mile above the
buildings Otto thought an inn. I checked landmarks, could not guess how far
south of the twelfth mile we were. Silent beckoned, pointed. Raven had indeed
turned south. We followed and soon passed milestone sixteen.

“How far are you going to follow him, Croaker?” One-Eye asked. “Bet you he met
Darling out here and just kept hiking.”

“I suspect he did. How far to Shaker? Anybody know?” "Two hundred forty-seven
miles,“ Kingpin replied. ”Rough country? Likely to have trouble along the way.

Bandits and such?"

King said, “Not that I ever heard of. There's mountains, though. Pretty rough
ones. Take a while to get through them.”

I did some calculating. Say three weeks to cover that distance, not pushing.

Raven wouldn't push, what with Darling along, and the papers. “A wagon. He'd
have to have a wagon.”

Silent, too, was mounted now. We reached the buildings quickly. Otto proved
right. Definitely an inn. A girl came outside as we dismounted, looked at us
with wide eyes, raced inside. I guess we were a rough-looking lot. Those who did
not show tough looked nasty.

A worried fat man came out strangling an apron. His face could not decide if it
wanted to remain ruddy or to go pallid. “Afternoon,” I said. “We get a meal and
some fodder for the animals?”

“Wine,” One-Eye called out as he loosened his cinch. “I need to dive into a
gallon of wine. And a feather bed.“ ”I reckon,” the man said. His speech proved
difficult to follow. The language of Meadenvil is a dialect of that spoken in
Juniper. In the city it wasn't hard to get along, what with the constant
intercourse between Meadenvil and Juniper. But this fellow spoke a country
dialect with an altered rhythm. “And you can afford it.”

I produced two of Raven's silver pieces, handed them over. “Let me know when
we're over that limit.” I dropped my reins over the hitching rail, climbed the
steps, patted his arm as I passed. "Not to worry. We're not bandits. Soldiers.

Following somebody who passed this way a while back."

He rewarded me with a frown of disbelief. It was obvious we did not serve the
Prince of Meadenvil.

The inn was pleasant, and though the fat man had several daughters, everyone
stayed in line. After we had eaten and most had gone off to rest, the innkeeper
began to relax. “You answer me some questions?” I asked. I placed a silver piece
upon my table. “Might be worth something.”

He settled opposite me, regarded me narrowly over a gigantic beer mug. He had
drained the thing at least six times since our arrival, which explained his
girth. “What do you want to know?”

"The tall man who can't talk. He's looking for his daughter.''

“Eh?”

I indicated Silent, who had made himself at home near the fire, seated on the
floor, folded forward in sleep. “A deaf and dumb girl who passed this way a
while back. Probably driving a wagon. Met a guy here, maybe.” I described Raven.

His face went blank. He remembered Raven. And did not want to talk about it.

“Silent!”

He snapped out of sleep as if stung. I sent a message with finger signs. He
smiled nastily. I told the innkeeper, “He don't look like much, but he's a
sorcerer. Here's how it stands. The man who was here maybe told you he'd come
back and cut your throat if you said anything. That's a remote risk. On the
other hand, Silent there can cast a few spells and make your cows go dry, your
fields barren, and all your beer and wine go sour.”

Silent did one of those nasty little tricks which amuse him, One-Eye and Goblin.

A ball of light drifted around the common room like a curious puppy, poking into
things.

The innkeeper believed me enough not to want to call my bluff. "All right. They
was here. Like you said. I get a lot of people through in the summer, so I
wouldn't have noticed except like you say, the girl was deaf and the guy was a
hard case. She come in in the morning, like she traveled all night. On a wagon.

He come in the evening, walking. They stayed off in the corner. They left next
morning.“ He looked at my coin. ”Paid in that same funny coin, come to think."

“Yeah.”

“Come from a long way off, eh?”

“Yeah. Where'd they go?”

"South. Down the road. Questions I heard the guy ask, I figure they was headed
for Chimney.''

I raised an eyebrow. I'd never heard of any place called Chimney.

“Down the coast. Past Shaker. Take the Needle Road out of Shaker. The Tagline
Road from Needle. Somewhere south of Tagline there's a crossroad where you head
west. Chimney is on the Salada Peninsula. I don't know where for sure. Only what
I heared from travelers.”

“Uhm. Long hike. How far, you think?”

"See. Two hundred twenty-four miles to Shaker. Round two hundred more to Needle.

Tagline is about one eighty on from Needle, I think. Or maybe it's two eighty. I
don't rightly recollect. That crossroad must be another hundred down from
Tagline, then out to Chimney. Don't know how far that would be. Least another
hundred. Maybe two, three. Seen a map oncet, that a fellow showed me. Peninsula
sticks way out like a thumb."

Silent joined us. He produced a scrap of paper and a tiny, steel-tipped pen. He
had the innkeeper run through it again. He drew a crude map that he adjusted as
the fat man said it did or did not resemble the map he had seen. Silent kept
juggling a column of figures. He came up with an estimate in excess of nine
hundred miles from Meadenvil. He knocked off the last digit, then wrote the word
days and a plus sign. I nodded.

“Probably a four-month trip at least,” I said. “Longer if they spend much time
resting up in any of those cities.”

Silent drew a straight line from Meadenvil to the tip of the Salada Peninsula,

wrote, est. 600 mi. a. 6 knots = 100 hrs.

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah. That's why the ship never left. Had to give him a head
start. Think we'll have a talk with the crew tomorrow. Thanks, innkeeper.” I
pushed the coin over. “Anything odd happened around here lately?”

A weak smiled stretched his lips. “Not till today.”

“Right. No. I mean like neighbors disappearing, or what-not.”

He shook his head. "Nope. Less you count Moleskin. Hain't seen him in a while.

But that don't make no never-mind."

“Moleskin?”

"Hunter. Works the forest over east. Mainly for furs and hides, but brings me
game when he needs salt or something. He don't come around regular, but I reckon
he's overdue. Usually comes in come fall, to get staples for the winter. Thought
it was him when your friend come through the door.''

“Eh? Which friend?”

"The one you're hunting. That carried off this feller's daughter.''

Silent and I exchanged glances. I said, “Better not count on seeing Moleskin
again. I think he's dead.”

“What brings you to say that?”

I told him a little about Raven faking his own death and leaving a body that had
been confused for his.

“Bad thing, that. Yep. Bad thing, doing like that. Hope you catch him up.” His
eyes narrowed slightly, cunning. “You fellers wouldn't be part of that bunch
come down from Juniper, would you? Everybody headed south talks about how. ...”

Silent's glower shut him up.

“I'm going to get some sleep,” I said. “If none of my men are up yet, roust me
out at first light.”

“Yes, sir,” the innkeeper said. “And a fine breakfast we'll fix you, sir.”

MEADENVIL: TROUBLE
And a fine breakfast we had. I tipped the innkeeper another piece of silver. He
must have thought me mad.

Half a mile up the road One-Eye called a halt. “You just going to leave them?”

he asked.

“What?”

“Those people. First Taken comes down this way is going to find out everything
we did.”

My heart flip-flopped. I knew what he was getting at. I had thought about it
earlier. But I could not order it. “No point,” I said. “Everybody in Meadenvil
is going to see us put out.”

“Everybody in Meadenvil don't know where we're headed. I don't like the idea any
better than you do, Croaker. But we have to cut the trail somewhere. Raven
didn't. And we're on to him.”

“Yeah. I know.” I glanced at Asa and Shed. They were not taking it well. Asa, at
least, figured he was next.

“Can't take them with us, Croaker.”

“I know.”

He swung around, started back. Alone. Not even Otto joined him, and Otto has
very little conscience.

“What's he going to do?” Asa asked.

“Use his magic to make them forget,” I lied. “Let's move along. He can catch
up.”

Shed kept giving me looks. Looks like he must have given Raven when he first
found out Raven was in the body business. He did not say anything.

One-Eye caught up an hour later. He busted out laughing. “They were gone,” he
said. “Every blessed one, with all their dogs and cattle. Into the woods. Damned
peasants.” He laughed again, almost hysterically. I suspect he was relieved.

“We got two days and some gone,” I said. “Let's push it. The bigger head start
we have, the better.”

We reached the outskirts of Meadenvil five hours later, not having pressed as
hard as I wanted. As we penetrated the city, our pace lagged. I think we all
sensed it. Finally, I stopped. “King, you and Asa wander around and see what you
hear. We'll wait at yonder fountain.” There were no children in the streets. The
adults I saw seemed dazed. Those who passed us moved by as widely as they could
navigate.

King was back in two minutes. No lollygagging. “Big trouble, Croaker. The Taken
got here this morning. Big blowout down at the waterfront.”

I glanced in that direction. A ghost of smoke rose there, as if marking the
aftermath of a major fire. The sky to the west, in the direction the wind was
blowing, had a dirty look.

Asa returned a minute later with the same news and more. “They got in a big
fight with the Prince. Not over yet, some say.”

“Wouldn't be much of a fight,” One-Eye said.

“I don't know,” I countered. “Even the Lady can't be everywhere at once. How the
hell did they get here so fast? They didn't have any carpets.”

“Overland,” Shed said.

“Overland? But ...”

"It's shorter than the sea trip. Road cuts across. If you ride hard, day and
night, you can make it in two days. When I was a kid, they used to have races.

They stopped that when the new Duke took over."

“Guess it doesn't matter. So. What now?”

“Got to find out what happened,” One-Eye said. He muttered, “If that bastard
Goblin got himself killed, I'll wring his neck.”

“Right. But how do we do that? The Taken know us.”

“I'll go,” Shed volunteered.

Harder looks you cannot imagine than those we bent upon Marron Shed. He quailed
for a moment. Then: “I won't let them catch me. Anyway, why should they bother
me? They don't know me.”

“Okay,” I said. “Get moving.”

“Croaker. ...”

“Got to trust him, One-Eye. Unless you want to go yourself.”

“Nope. Shed, you screw us over and I'll get you if I have to come back from the
grave.”

Shed smiled weakly, left us. On foot. Not many people rode through Meadenvil's
streets. We found a tavern and made ourselves at home, two men staying in the
street to watch. It was sundown before Shed returned.

“Well?” I said, signaling for another pitcher of beer.

"It's not good news. You guys are stuck. Your Lieutenant took the ship out.

Twenty, twenty-five of your guys were killed. The rest went out on the ship. The
Prince lost. ..."

“Not all of them,” One-Eye said, and tipped a pointing finger over the top of
his mug. “Somebody followed you, Shed.”

Shed whirled, terrified.

Goblin and Pawnbroker stood in the doorway. Pawn had been carved up some. He
limped over and collapsed into a chair. I checked his wounds. Goblin and One-Eye
exchanged looks that might have meant anything, but probably meant they were
glad to see one another.

The tavern's other customers began to fade. Word who we were had gotten out.

They knew some bad people were hunting us.

“Sit, Goblin,” I said. “King, you and Otto go get some fresh horses.” I gave
them most of the money I had. “All the staples that will buy, too. I think we
got a long ride ahead. Right, Goblin?”

He nodded.

“Let's hear it.”

"Whisper and Limper turned up this morning. Came with fifty men. Company men.

Looking for us. Made enough fuss we heard them coming. The Lieutenant sent word
to everybody ashore. Some didn't get aboard in time. Whisper headed for the
ship. The Lieutenant had to cut loose. We left nineteen men behind."

“What're you doing here?”

“I volunteered. Went over the side off the point, swam to shore, came back to
wait for you guys. Supposed to tell you where to meet the ship. Ran into Pawn by
accident. I was patching him up when I seen Shed poking around. We followed him
back here.”

I sighed. “They're headed for Chimney, right?”

He was surprised. “Yeah. How'd you know that?”

I explained briefly.

He said, “Pawn, better tell them what you know. Pawn was caught ashore. Only
survivor I could find.”